""As you come into this world, something else is also born. You begin your life, and it begins a journey towards you. It moves slowly, but it never stops. Wherever you go, whatever path you take, it will follow..." In the opening narration of " Heaven Sent," the penultimate episode of Doctor Who Season 9 and the show's best episode ever, the 12th Doctor (Peter Capaldi) seems like he could be referring to death."
"But as the episode unfolds, and its true horrifying nature is unveiled (pun intended), it becomes clear that the metaphor at the center of "Heaven Sent" is two-fold: the other thing that constantly chases you until it catches up and consumes you is...grief. "All of us our locked in a castle of grief sometime," writer and showrunner Steven Moffat said in one behind-the-scenes featurette on the episode. "And that's kind of the story: fighting his way out of loss.""
Heaven Sent opens with narration that frames a slow, inevitable pursuer born alongside life. The Doctor faces a looming certainty of death and experiences grief after Clara's death. He wakes trapped in a vast, labyrinthine castle and is hunted by The Veil, a slow, monstrous figure that demands confession. The castle contains clues that guide him toward escape. The episode uses the chase as a metaphor for grief, portraying grief as an unceasing force that must be confronted. The Doctor relies on inhuman cleverness, endurance, and resolve to navigate, outwit, and ultimately overcome the castle and its horrors.
Read at Inverse
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